1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an electronic musical instrument and more particularly to a parameter setting system for setting parameters used in such an electronic musical instrument which system is easy to operate, the parameters including those determining characteristics of a tone, those selecting and controlling musical effects and those controlling other musical functions.
2. Prior Art
In general, an electronic musical instrument is provided with a variety of operable members such as switches, knobs and the like for setting parameters to the electronic musical instrument prior to and during performing a music. The player of the electronic musical instrument can set, by manipulating the operable members, such parameters to desired values or states thereby to determine characteristics of tone such as a tone pitch, a tone color and a tone volume, to select and control musical effects such as a vibrato and a portamento, and to select and control other musical functions such as an automatic accompaniment playing function and an automatic music playing function.
The conventional electronic musical instrument has such a construction that each of the operable members is assigned only a specific one of the plurality of parameters. As a result, when the number of parameters is increased, the number of operable members is also increased. Thus, the conventional electronic musical instrument has needed a control panel of a relatively large size to mount the large number of operable members, which has resulted in an increase of the size of the electronic musical instrument per se. Moreover, since the number of operable members has thus been large, it has been difficult for the player to locate tee operable member which he wishes to operate. These problems have been serious particularly when the electronic musical instrument is of such a kind that many parameters need be set, that is to say, when the electronic musical instrument is of a high grade.
To solve the above problems, there has been proposed another parameter setting system such as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-149089. In this improved conventional system, the parameters to be set to the instrument are divided into plural groups in accordance with their kinds, such as tone colors and musical effects, so that each of the parameters in one group and the corresponding parameters in the other groups are commonly assigned to a respective one of the operable members. When one of the plural parameters must be set to a desired value, that group including the parameter to be set is first selected, and then the operable member corresponding to this parameter is operated. With this arrangement, the number of operable members and hence the size of the control panel can be remarkably reduced.
With this improved conventional system, however, the parameters selectable by each operable member are determined by the manufacturer and can not be changed by the player. Thus, this conventional system has not yet been satisfactory for the player from the viewpoint of operability.
In general, every player wants to perform a music in his own manner. Therefore, the musical effects, tone colors and the like selected in accordance with the parameters are different from player to player. The kinds of those parameters which are changed frequently are also different depending on the player. From the viewpoint of operability, those parameters which need be frequently changed should be assigned to those operable members which are disposed at such a position on the panel that the player can easily access, or can manipulate the operable members with less possibility of mistake.